T2 Trainspotting 2 User Review

I have a song on my iPhone from little known US punk-pop act The Ataris that has a lyric that perfectly sums up how I feel about this film:

"Being grown up isn't half as fun as growing up........"

The first film is hugely important to me, like it is to a lot of you and rewatching it last October just reiterated that. I was nervous coming to this after all the reviews, but its a film that as many of those have said is hugely reflective of life and of our lives. Don't mean to speak for any of you but just for myself, seeing how these characters turned out from where we first met them to where they are now is massively emotional. The film is exactly how life would have turned out for them - no reworking of the first one, 'one last job' style, with jokes about creaking hips and aching joints for these boys........just a sad reminder how the joys and hopes of youth can be so cruelly dashed by life.

Heavy. Aye, and not huge amounts of fun either. But it was fantastic to see the film have the balls to stick with these characters and the reality of their lives, rather than tart it up for the sake of trying to recapture the joyful verve and spirit of the first: the film is a perfect encapsulation of the characters - a little bit tired, a little bit depressed, desperately trying to recapture past glories whilst trying to forget about past mistakes.

And as such it was superb. The cast ARE these characters and the script has them exactly where you imagine them to be. A lack of strong narrative plot didn't matter a jot as it was about reconnecting with the characters and even if I felt the final sting of the film, probably the only time where it tries too hard to mirror the previous film, was unwarranted, I can appreciate fully the film itself, what it was trying to say and how it was saying it. Boyle toned down all his directorial tricks to suitably match the tone of the film (not all the way mind - the haunting way shadows were cast when Renton first arrives back home was stunning), yet shows that he's lost none of his piss and vinegar when needed - Renton's new 'Choose Life' speech, delivered in the comfy confines of an upmarket restaurant, sent chills at its anger, disappointment, acceptance of a modern world no-one of his generation (my generation? our generation?) actually likes, the missed opportunities of life and seeing how much of my thoughts are also in there too.......bloody superb stuff.

Its utterly fantastic.......just nowhere near as much fun as the first one. So.....a bit like middle age then.......god I'm depressed........

The UHD PQ was interesting, given how manipulated it all was - harsh, digital looking images, neck and neck with pristine filmic ones, its difficult to judge in any way other than to say it perfectly mated the tone of the film. The Atmos track though.......again, the music was the key and unlike the first one where the music perfectly suited the sense of joy and possibility, the sense of being young with the world at your feet, here the music just pummelled you as if was a weapon used to remind you how old you're getting as if it was almost daring you to turn it down (I can hear it almost screaming at me "YOU'RE TOO OLD!!!"). It felt massive, with the music literally pouring out of all the speakers. Fantastic stuff.

Summary - depressing, possibly. A little too close to home, possibly. A superb film that manages to both pay respect to its predecessor while sticking true to the characters, absolutely. Not one to rewatch many times over (unlike the first one), but definitely one to appreciate, and be glad it was made.

This item was purchased for £19.99 from HMV in 2017.
The reviewer still owns this product.

Pros

Ballsy to revisit the characters exactly as they would be......

......rather than try to repackage the first film

The characters are just as spell binding even with if they've calmed down some